Monday, October 29, 2018

Halloween at Chastain proves to be just as spooky as ever when Conrad is tasked with diagnosing a young woman admitted to the hospital with extreme night terrors. Devon faces his first Halloween in the ER. Nic panics over her decision to bring her newly sober sister to Mina's epic annual Halloween party. Bell finds an interesting way to make use of his new assistant.

In 2018, it has become very difficult to keep up with every television show out there. It's even more difficult to provide adequate coverage on this site about the episodes that air every week. Not every show can get full coverage because of my busy and hectic viewing schedule. As such, some reviews will now be condensed to give only some summary thoughts. But it also affords a space for me to jot down my thoughts on the various episodes. And so, here are my thoughts on this week's episode of FOX's The Resident.

"Nightmares" was written by Todd Harthan & Andrew Chapman and directed by David Crabtree

The Resident goes all-in with its horror esthetic here. Well, that's true for at least one storyline in particular. A woman comes into the hospital being unable to sleep because she suffers from extreme nightmares. It's enough to push her to the brink of insanity. And yes, it is very powerful to watch as Conrad calms her down and takes care of her every step of the way. The intensity of this story mostly comes from Lori being confused by the world around her and lashing out. She is able to make it to the roof where she has to be talked down by Conrad. Later on, she goes running out of her room and into a glass window. That's a traumatic event. Of course, it's nothing that a quick surgery can't fix. It's in doing so that Conrad finds the reason for all of her symptoms. She had a teratoma in her body that was also forcing her brain to form a type of infection. However, the show doesn't really explain what a teratoma is which is strange because it's such a fascinating medical phenomena. But it all ends with a peaceful conclusion. Conrad saves her life and inspires her to reach out to her family once more. As such, it holds thematic significance for Conrad's own personal life. That aspect of this episode mostly seems to be setting up a new conflict between Conrad and his father. Conrad knows that something is going on because Marshall forgot their lunch plans. And yet, Marshall refuses to share what distracted him because Conrad is being hypocritical. He expects the people around him to be completely honest about everything but he shields himself from others constantly. It's his key character flaw. It's something that still threatens to destroy any personal relationship that he has. Nic is in bed with him when he suffers from his own nightmare. But he refuses to let her in. Of course, that nightmare also foreshadows something dark and sinister in his past when it comes to his parents. It certainly seems like Marshall may be responsible for Conrad's mother's death. That's eery and could hint at even more chaos moving forward. Elsewhere, the show found comedy in its Halloween setting with the severed limbs coming into the hospital being placed in different positions and annoying Devon. Of course, the mystery of who was doing that was solved fairly quickly. Plus, it still allowed Devon to have a teaching moment that proved that one of the new med students may actually have some promise in his abilities. And yet, this story is fundamentally about this horrific accident in which a man was torn into several different pieces being put back together by the capable team of doctors. In fact, it continues to show how much of a badass Voss is even though she also reveals that she is a grandmother here. And finally, Nic has her own personal story as well. Hers highlights how she has developed panic attacks lately. That makes sense given everything that she has gone through. It may be difficult for her to trust people at their word given the numerous betrayals she has experienced in her life. However, she is still holding Conrad and her sister close. They may cause her stress but they can still calm her down as well. And yet, this reveal could hint at more problems for her in the future. As such, that makes this an episode that is very much just planting the seeds for what could be happening next with these characters.